How do we develop fears? Are they innate or do we learn them? We talk about Watson's dubious Little Albert study (1920). Watson and his team tested if they could condition fear into an infant named Albert using classical conditioning (e.g., Pavlov's dog). Homeboy basically bangs on loud sounds to make a baby cry. Messed up stuff.

Follow-Up Research: Are liberals more scared of zombies than conservatives? Are women more scared of drowning than men? We discuss our own follow-up research about how common are different fears and how they differ between groups (gender, political affiliation, temperament, age).
 
Interested in seeing our faces and the visuals referenced in this episode? Check out the video version of this episode on YouTube.